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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23550514">50 Reasons Why I Love Pepper Potts</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIronMechanic/pseuds/TheIronMechanic'>TheIronMechanic</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Pepperony, Pepperony and more Pepperony [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff, Insecure Pepper, Loving Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:26:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,124</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23550514</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIronMechanic/pseuds/TheIronMechanic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper felt as if Tony was distancing from her. She felt as if the love Tony felt for her in the beginning isn't there anymore. How will Tony show her that he still loves her the same? A Power Point of course.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Pepper Potts/Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Pepperony, Pepperony and more Pepperony [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1716382</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>68</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>50 Reasons Why I Love Pepper Potts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>As always, English is not my first language so all mistakes are mine.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Pepper was peacefully drinking her morning coffee as always. She loved these moments of peace in the morning, nothing to distract her from the beautiful views of the city. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She had a routine. She got up quietly the mornings when Tony slept next to her (which weren’t too many lately), took a quick shower, got dressed, made herself a cup of coffee and stood in front of the enormous windows of the penthouse.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">That was her routine. Would she love for Tony to join her? He did for a while when they first started dating. Back then he was more- uhm what’s the word - clingy? He always used to get up when she did, had breakfast with her, took her to lunch almost every day and had date nights every single Friday.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Now though, Pepper felt as if he was more distant. She liked to believe it was because they were both too busy. But now, when she really thinks about it, she finds that they are as busy before, and that didn’t stop him back then.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The rational part of her knows that Tony is more independent than most people. He likes his space and it doesn’t bother her for the most part. But somewhere in the back of her mind, a thought keeps coming back, as much as she hates it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">That thought, as irrational as it is for her, hasn’t left her mind for a while. What if he doesn’t love her anymore? Or what if he doesn’t love her <em>as much</em> as he did before or as much as she loves him? What then?</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">When she thinks about it, she knows that she loves her. She can see it in his eyes. Now that she knows him well enough, she can understand what he’s thinking just by looking in his eyes, and that’s something that she loves but terrifies her at the same time. Because as much as those eyes show her, it is never enough.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She thinks she knows him, but sometimes she finds out that she doesn’t. She has seen - more times than she would like to admit - through his lies, but just not fast enough. Sure, he does it to protect her, but there are things that she doesn’t need protecting from. And as much as she loves him, there are things that she will never understand.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">When Pepper brings the cup to her lips, she notices all her coffee is gone and that if she doesn’t leave in the next 20 minutes, she’ll be late to the board meeting that was rescheduled a week ago.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">As she sets the cup in the dishwasher, she hears a loud crack followed by fast footsteps up the stairs. <em>Tony</em>. Of course it’s him. He probably fell asleep on top of his desk <em>again</em>, woke up disoriented and in dire need to pee. Knowing his next moves, she just reclines on the kitchen counter, looking directly at the stairs, waiting for him to come running. And sure enough, there he is just a couple of seconds later.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh good, Pepper there you are!” More awake than she thought he would be, Tony approaches her, kissing her softly on the lips. “Great, you made coffee.” He pours himself some from the coffee machine, then he stops in front of her, drinking it. “So how are you honey? Had a good morning? I see you already had your morning coffee without me. <em>Rude,</em> but okay.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He was surprised she already had breakfast without him? When was the last time he had breakfast with her? Almost 5 months ago? Why is he acting so weird?</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Are you okay Tony? It’s 6:30am and you are, well, <em>here</em> instead of sleeping or working. Is something wrong?” He looks at her puzzled, as if she wasn’t speaking his language.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” She doesn’t respond, just shrugs while looking at him, trying to decipher him. “Are <em>you</em> okay? You keep looking at me as if, I don’t know, I was an alien or something.” He takes another sip of his coffee.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“<em>Me</em>? Acting weird? I was just having my morning routine when you showed up.” Suddenly he frowns, kind of offended.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Oh, so I wasn’t invited to your ‘<em>morning routine</em>’?” He says while mimicking quotations. “Well then, in that case. I’m sorry your majesty for intruding.” He takes another sip and sets his mug on the kitchen counter, just next to her. Before he can leave though, she catches his arm.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No, Tony of course not. I just meant that I wasn’t expecting you. <em>Of course</em> you are invited. In fact I would love it if you joined me every morning.” He slowly turns to look at her, his facial features much softer than before.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You do? Then why didn’t you tell me before?” Getting closer, he puts his arms around her waist.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I don’t know. I just felt as if you were getting farther away.” He drops her head on his shoulder, sighting. “It’s like we do less and less things together these days.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I just-“</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“And I get that we are both busy with work and stuff, but we were as busy before and we used to do <em>so many</em> things together.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Pep-“</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“And I get that the love we felt when we first started is probably not the same anymore. Maybe the passion is gone. But I need to know.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Honey-“</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Do you love me? At least as much as I love you?” Slowly she raises her head to look at him. Tony, mouth agape just looks at her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“If I love you? Pepper.” One of his hands goes from her hips to her face. Running his fingers over the side of her face, he puts one of her locks behind her ear. “That’s not the question you should be asking me.” He smiles softly at her shocked expression. “Ask me <em>why</em> I love you. Come on. Ask me.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Tony-“</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Just do it.” He presses a kiss to her forehead, encouraging her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Why do you love me?” He separates from her, taking her hand. He leads her to the couch, where they both sit. He grabs the remote, turns the TV on and touches some things on his phone.</span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Well, I’m <em>so glad</em> you asked.” He kisses her softly and then an image appears on the screen. A power point? ’<em>50 Reasons Why I Love Pepper Potts’.</em> </span>
</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She looks at him, her eyes filled with tears, Tony just looking at her with nothing but love and adoration in his eyes. She sits back as he puts a hand on her shoulders, making her relax on his arms as he begins to explain his stupidly sweet power point.</span>
</p>
<p class="p4"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <em>This man.</em>
  </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I didn't delve into what the Power Point said, but if you give this enough love I might do some stories explaining what our dear Tony wrote.</p>
<p>Don't forget to leave a kudo and a comment, they help a lot!</p>
<p>The idea came from this prompt in tumblr:</p>
<p>Tony: Ask me why I love you.<br/>Pepper: Tony-<br/>Tony: just do it just do it.<br/>Pepper: why do you love me?<br/>Tony, pulling out a 200 slide presentation: I'm glad you asked.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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